A Justice Department memo determined the U.S. government can use lethal force against an American citizen overseas if the person is a senior operational leader of al Qaeda or one of its affiliates.

The paper provides insights into the Obama administration's policy of targeted killings carried out by the use of drone strikes against suspected terrorists. Several of those strikes have killed Americans, notably Anwar al-Awlaki, the Yemeni American who had been connected to plots against the United States but never charged with a crime. Awlaki died in a drone attack in September 2011 in Yemen.

The 16-page white paper - titled "Lawfulness of a Lethal Operation Directed Against a U.S. Citizen who is a Senior Operational Leader of Al Qaida or an Associated Force" - is a policy paper rather than an official legal document.

NBC News first reported on the contents of the memo, which was given to members of the Senate Intelligence and Judiciary committees last June. A congressional source verified the document's legitimacy to CNN.

The paper states that although U.S. citizens abroad retain their constitutional rights to due process, the U.S. government can use lethal force against a citizen under the following circumstances: "1) where an informed, high-level official of the U.S. government has determined that the targeted individual poses an imminent threat of violent attack against the United States; 2) where a capture operation would be infeasible - and where those conducting the operation continue to monitor whether capture becomes feasible; and 3) where such an operation would be conducted consistent with applicable law of war principles."

But the document also says the government is not required "to have clear evidence" that an attack against the United States will occur in the immediate future to determine that an imminent threat is posed by a U.S. citizen.

The memo cites both congressional authorization and judicial approval for the use of military force to counter the threat of terrorist attack by all individuals.

The Supreme Court has held that the military may constitutionally use force against a U.S. citizen who is a part of enemy forces.

The document dismisses arguments by commentators that the war against al Qaeda cannot extend outside of Afghanistan, and asserts, "the United States retains its authority to use force against al-Qaida and associated forces outside the area of active hostilities when it targets a senior operational leader of the enemy force who is actively engaged in planning operations to kill Americans."

The American Civil Liberties Union called the document "profoundly disturbing."

Hina Shamsi, the director of the ACLU's National Security Project, said, "It summarizes in cold legal terms a stunning overreach of executive authority, the claimed power to declare Americans a threat and kill them far from a recognized battlefield and without any judicial involvement before or after the fact."

Shamsi called on the Obama administration to release the 50-page legal memo on which the White Paper is based.

A bipartisan group of senators has also called for the administration to release its legal opinions on presidential authority.

In a letter to the president on Monday, the 11 senators said, "It is vitally important, however, for the Congress and the American public to have a full understanding of how the executive branch interprets the limits and boundaries of this authority so that Congress and the public can decide whether this authority has been properly defined and whether the president's power to deliberately kill American citizens is subject to appropriate limitations and safeguards."

The request comes just days before the confirmation hearing of John Brennan to become director of the CIA. Brennan, who has served as the president's top counterterrorism adviser, is considered to be behind the administration's dramatic rise in the use of targeted killings.

He is expected to be grilled on the policy during his hearing Thursday.

I cannot believe the level of thirst for blood that has revealed itself in these posts. The measure of justice in a decent society is that which one is willing to mete out for another. If justice is denied to the least of one's fellow man, then it is lost to us all.

Due process of law has been violated and murdered here, not just some outlaw on the lam in a dusty country.

The government of the United States has embarked on illegal criminal activity and will be judged by history if not by its own citizens. To approve of lawlessness is to bring it down upon our own heads. THINK about who's blood your willing to spill. Every man deserves his day in court. Every man.

WHAT HAPPENED to the rule of due process of law? This is the bedrock of any democratic government. The United States has now devolved into the level of gangsterism. If a hardened criminal can be executed by executive fiat, how long before innocents are murdered for convenience sake? Oh wait! That happened every day now. The unborn die like flies and nobody cares. Welcome to the new fascist police state of America. When they come for YOU, you'll have no one to defend you because everybody else will be dead!!!! Chew on that a while if you can.

IF GOD DOES NOT JUDGE AMERICA, HE WILL HAVE TO APOLOGIZE TO SODOM AND GOMORRAH.

Criminal. Gangster. He who lives outside the law will suffer in a lawless police state. Due process of law has been murdered here by a government of heartless killers. What happened to "innocent until proven guilty"? Even a guilty man has the right to review by his peers. This is murder for murder's sake. It is illegal and immoral.

I will suggest that the spectators(ppl sitting at home) leave the answer to the DRONE USAGE to the Americans that are in Harms way. Regardless who is shooting at you, once you get shot at in combat it becomes a different ball game. I will answer here, whoever shoots at me in combat is a fair game. The issues of SPEEADY trial will be put in place. Speedy Trial as I will define it is saving the American tax payers dollards on court proceedings by killing whoever the enemy is on the battlefield with whatever weapon is available.

Nobel Peace Prize Winner ? 30,000 additional troops in Afghanistan, Blew Libya to pieces with US Missiles, Drone strikes have killed 200 Pakistani Children, killing a 16 year old American citizen in Yemen. Wow talk about Nobel peace prize committee remorse, I bet they had that one to do over.

Actually, as far as I could tell the memo doesn't address the geographic location/restrictions which might limit where an American can be targeted, could be anywhere. According to the memo, an American citizen can be targeted even if they have never actually been involved in any plot, past or present. The only requirement appears to be that "someone" in the government labels them a ranking member of a group catagorized as a "terrorist" organization. Will the people that "assured" us Iraq had stockpiles of WMD's be the same ones determining which American's are "terrorist" and need to die? Good luck with that.....

Like you, I respect the presidency of the United States. I wonder how any man can maintain fairness when given such powers. I dread hearing of abuse of power but I can understand how our fears would allow us to consider giving up some of our rights. I am also afraid we have gone too far in allowing these rights to be given, when we would agree in giving up our right to due process and even to our lives and lives of fellow Americans. I see not even any coverage of this issue, relegating this to only a political discussion on chat boards. We have given up our rights out of fear and this power will not be taken back easily.

oh-it is ok to be a terrorist if you are an American??? I am not an Obama fan but this is what has to happen. The same people who question this asked where God was when all those kids were killed--and they are they ones who kicked God out of our schools. Common sense-if you are a terrorist-pay the price for the protection of our country.

America has taken action against traitors in the past, but the game has changed. When an American citizen aligns with a terrorist group committed to destroying our nation, is in a foreign country to fight for that purpose, it would seem, IMO, that they have given up citizenship and rights.

“CIA Target: Americans Officials: U.S. Citizens Working for Al Qaeda Can Be Killed in CIA Actions

“The authority to kill U.S. citizens is granted under a secret finding signed by the president after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks that directs the CIA to covertly attack al Qaeda anywhere in the world. The authority makes no exception for Americans, so permission to strike them is understood rather than specifically described, officials said.”

This policy has been implemented and publicly acknowledged at least once. On November 3, 2002, the CIA killed a US citizen of Yemeni origin, Kamal Derwish, during its predator drone strike on an al-Queda terrorist in Yemen.

Once a person takes up arms agaist yheir nation is considered the enemy of the state. This fall under the the Uniform Code of Military Justice. You ask if this could happen in America? Remember Ruby Ridge and the Branch Dividian. Yes this could happen in America.

No one knows as no information was needed to be given to the public. The boy was killed 4 days after his father implying he was a specific target not a casualty. This is hard to understand for me as a mother. What could a 16 year old possibly have been assumed to mastermind?

Anyone who publicly denounces the United States and vows a war, holy or not, on us has given up citizenship as far as I am concerned. That is not to say that Americans overseas can automatically be put in that class just because they disparage our country. And I think the headline is misleading since it offers the hint of it being all Americans overseas.

So what else is new? U.S. military governor/dictator Blanton Winship used lethal force against civilian demonstrators and bystanders during the Ponce Massacre in Puerto Rico in 1937, Puerto Ricans had been U.S. citizens for 20 years by then. 6 years before that Cornelius P. Rhoads, a U.S.-backed Josef Mengele precursor, secretly performed lethal cancer experiments on unsuspecting Puerto Rican patients. By the U.S. Navy's own admission, several "live fire incidents" were reported during "target practice" on Vieques Island during the 1990s, one of them resulting in the death of a Navy-employed civilian security guard at his post. The U.S. has always been long-winded yet short-armed on human rights, even those of its own citizens, with its borders and without.

hrmm what gets me about all this is the fact that its okay to target a single american civillian who wasnt fighting or shooting at anyone yet noone pulled the trigger with the drones flying over benghazi when they were actively blowing up our ambassador did they have to be on the hit list too?

So now we see the formula for the manner in which the democrats will defeat themselves. After winning big in the elections, after the self destruction of the Tea Party and the GOP, after winning on social issues and guns, and healthcare and a number of common sense measure held up for years by the GOP, after all that, the idiotic cartoon character wing of the democratic party wants to stop us from using drones to kill our enemies while we are at war. The only way that the democrats could lose after all of these wins is from within, and here is the first sighting of the stupidity that will do just that. So listen up DNC, caucuses and elected leaders, shut the idiots up or you will be the GOP in about a year. FOOLS!

confidential Justice Department memo concludes that the U.S. government can order the killing of American citizens if they are believed to be “senior operational leaders” of al-Qaida or “an associated force” - even if there is no intelligence indicating they are engaged in an active plot to attack the U.S.

"In the Department’s view, a lethal operation conducted against a U.S. citizen whose conduct poses an imminent threat of violent attack against the United States would be a legitimate act of national self-defense that would not violate the assassination ban. Similarly, the use of lethal force, consistent with the laws of war, against an individual who is a legitimate military target would be lawful and would not violate the assassination ban.”

Al Awaki's 16 year old son who was An American Citizen, born in Denver Colorado was killed by Mien Fuhrer Obama during the Drone Strike. The boy had never done anything to necessitate his death by Mien Fuhrer Obama. Why not publish his photo for this story CNN ?

Quite true massoud, quite true. Killer Obama already has far more blood on his filthy hands than all the members of the Chicago mob both past and present! And this pig is our President, too! This goes to show just what a sick society that we're now living in!

Obama extended the Patriot Act by having a robo pen sign it how Orwellian of him, not only did Obama extend the Patriot Act he signed into law the NDAA, which alows the president to use the military to detain indefinitely any American citizen anytime and anywhere without a charge and can not only hold them indefinitely without a charge or trial but can rendition and torture and kill without due process.

February 6, 2013 at 11:14 am |

Where are the Libs and Bruce Springsteen???

Where are the liberals today (like Bruce Springsteen) and the outcry of No Due Process, To Much Wire Tappings and No Habeas Corpus???? Today..Gitmo still open….., Patriot Act Stronger…. and Drone Killings over Water Boarding is A Okay

Your rifle won't protect you from an AGM-114R Hellfire II missile fired from an MQ-9 Reaper drone circling 25,000 feet above your head; nor will you even hear the incoming ordnance, with its Mach 1.3 approach speed. Nor can you target those brave heroes operating the drone, who are 12,000 miles away, on the other side of the world. Good luck!

bottom line, a threat to the USA needs to be eliminated. Drone strike gets it done, without endangering more US soldiers. Your option is to go there and bring this Traitor/terrorist back to the US so he can lawyer up, and the US would spend 1000's of hours prosecuting him. I am not a fan of the current President, but this is an economical solution to countering Terrorists.

Al Alwakis 16 year old son was Killed by Obamas drone strike in Yemen, what about his rights as an American Citizen.

February 6, 2013 at 4:16 pm |

nick

It is an argument that falls in line with the law of war:

1. We are in war with al qaeda.
2. The war with Al qaeda is not a conventional was- there are not two countries fighting against each other, rather one is an organization with no geographical boundaries.
3. Al qaeda does not follow the laws of war and is not protected by the Geneva conventions.
4. A member of Al qaeda is an enemy combatant and under the law of war can be killed legally.
5. US citizens who join al qaeda will be treated similarly as a US citizen would if it were to join another country fighting the US:

For instance, if in World War II, a united states citizen went to fight for Germany against the US, the US citizen could be legally killed in battle.
6. A US citizen volunteering for al qaeda could be killed legally in the current war with al qaeda.

The US has not declared war on Al-quaeda, nor could they, since it is not a country. Since it has no formal citizenship, there is no genuine criterion for "membership" in the group. Therefore, anyone is eligible to be labeled as Al-quaeda, including me and you.

You obviously never spent any time in the Military or deployed to Iraq and AFG to make an ignorant statement like this.

February 6, 2013 at 10:45 am |

Nat Reader

Go talk to Bush then...he started it and those concepts

The George W. Bush administration defined the following objectives in the War on Terror:[49]
Defeat terrorists such as Osama bin Laden, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and destroy their organizations
Identify, locate and destroy terrorists along with their organizations
Deny sponsorship, support and sanctuary to terrorists
End the state sponsorship of terrorism
Establish and maintain an international standard of accountability with regard to combating terrorism
Strengthen and sustain the international effort to fight terrorism
Work with willing and able states
Enable weak states
Persuade reluctant states
Compel unwilling states
Interdict and disrupt material support for terrorists
Eliminate terrorist sanctuaries and havens
Diminish the underlying conditions that terrorists seek to exploit
Partner with the international community to strengthen weak states and prevent (re)emergence of terrorism
Win the war of ideals
Defend US citizens and interests at home and abroad
Implement the National Strategy for Homeland Security
Attain domain awareness
Enhance measures to ensure the integrity, reliability, and availability of critical physical and information-based infrastructures at home and abroad
Integrate measures to protect US citizens abroad
Ensure an integrated incident management capability

February 6, 2013 at 11:04 am |

bankrupt1

is it like jewish globalists? they are in every country and no one country?

Another senseless comment from another weak minded Tea Partier! This kind of ignorance as show above should be against the law! Is the bozo who posted the above really that ignorant or just that full of hate? With these Tea Partiers these days, it's really hard to tell!

Likely a Tea Party member did your wife and you aren't man enough to do anything but sound off on the internet.

Sorry loser, way more than the troll you responded too.

February 5, 2013 at 6:40 pm |

tea partier comment

Do you have any idea what 95% of the 'tea partiers' believe in? Maybe you should learn to read something beside propaganda. I attended a meeting to learn more and discovered that they spent 98% of the time discussing local issues and ways to conserve funding to extend what was allocated to their district and make it stretch further. It seemed to be a organization of neighborhood folks dealing with fiscal issues almost exclusively.

These people are US citizens only in name; in reality, they are defectors to the enemy who are making war on the US. They do not reside in the US. There is no thought of targeting US citizens within the US like this - they will be arrested and treated as criminals. This memo is not a policy statement, anyway. There is nothing wrong with it. This is hardly even news.

I do not disagree with the use of drones for defense of preemptive measures; kill the enemy with any means necessary. However if this had been done by Bush, the democrats or liberals would say that he is isolating America further.

February 5, 2013 at 9:23 pm |

txpharm

Some Democrats are screaming. A letter for details on this policy Signed by GOP and Dem Senators including Ron Wyden was sent to Obama.

February 6, 2013 at 2:54 am |

Camarillo Kid

They could have used this same logic to murder Huey Newton or Abbey Hoffman back in the 60's. It is nonsense.

Amazing that all the Dems that wanted Bush on trial for war crimes for water-boarding terrorists but are so silent when Obama wants to kill Americans. You can't water-board but it is ok to kill? Obama spoke in Egypt how the rule of law will prevail when it comes to interrogations and that we will not water board. Hey Dems, where is the outcry now?

February 5, 2013 at 4:55 pm |

tpbco

Kurt- All you're going to get is crickets.

You can always tell the liberals in the room...just look for the biggest hypocrites.

February 5, 2013 at 5:28 pm |

nick

Kurt, does that mean you think that Americans who join Al qaeda should not be harmed? I am trying to understand your opinion. I would think conservatives would be supporting these actions rather than being against them.

February 5, 2013 at 5:42 pm |

donnie

Harmed is fine with me, once they have had their due proccess.

February 5, 2013 at 8:22 pm |

Jose79845

Where is the proof that someone is a member of al Qaeda? Just because Obama sees it as a serious decision does not make it correct. Look at his decision to keep marijuana illegal.

February 5, 2013 at 10:29 pm |

lolitic2

Some Americans need to be targeted, especially those that don't agree with me.

SS BS; If you don't like it than leave the USA, and take your BS with you.

February 6, 2013 at 10:50 am |

Mark

I have no issue with killing the proverbial "bad guy", even in some rare instances where they might even be an American; but I find it unfortunate so many cannot seem to fathom what a slippery slope this could come to be. The legal opinion for this policy paper ought to be released and debated.

Drones will take over the air space and kill whom ever the USA wants. You just won't know about it. And probably never will once they have been allowed to. If you plot against us, and they find out, you will die trying to carry out your act of terror.

You're a fool. If you give that kind of power to your government they will eventually abuse it and you will be at the end of a missile from a drone one day and regret your above statement. And this will all be due to Americans complacency.

No you're lost davie boy. We are in complete control of our own fate in this country. We have rights that many other countries will never have. Some states even support gay marriage, that should cheer you up.

Clearly you have yet to read the Patriot Act, the most recent NDAA (National Defense Authorization Act ... which made me a terrorist for canning the surplus from my garden) or ANY of the recent Executive Orders.

None of those rights will continue to exist if Obama and Feinstein have their way with the new gun-grab laws.
If you DO get around to reading them, my friend, you'll realize that we may have just had our last Presidential election. Ever. The LEGAL framework for enslaving all Americans is already in place and the 1.6 Billion bullets (hollow point - can't be used by the military outside of the country) the DHS has purchased, followed by an additional 26 Million bullets for the National Weather Service ( really? the NWS ???) are meant to enforce those legalisms whenever the administration decides it's time.

Really, you don't see the distinction? Our military is allowed to kill enemy combatants. But we are allowed to torture them. You know, those silly Geneva rules set up after the horrors of WWII and all.

I know. Killing US citizens without a trial is awesome if Obama does it. He's a Nobel Peace Prize winner so it must be ok, right?

February 5, 2013 at 3:31 pm |

awooff

NEXT STEP WILL BE TO ALLOW THIS ON U.S. SOIL!! Whomever is deemed traitor by anyone can be instantly executed! – NOW WE KNOW WHY THE U.S. IS STOCKPILLING HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF BODY BAGS IN BUNKERS ON U.S. SOIL!!! ITS OVER PEOPLE!

All the pieces except enforcing the coming gun grab legislation is in place. The DHS is not expecting things to go smoothly but they ARE gearing up to win. Welcome to the most prosperous banana republic in history.

February 5, 2013 at 7:50 pm |

cd

Massoud, You are really showing your ignorance!

February 6, 2013 at 10:55 am |

massoud

cd- your stupidity proceeds your ignorance !

February 6, 2013 at 11:10 am |

Gbwarren

And just like with anything else in life the biggest and baddest and richest don't have to play by the rules...this is the way of the world, deal

America became powerful and is powerful because of a long list of things people would find offensive and appalling....I don't love that but it's the truth...and we all for the most part benefit from this...the freedoms we enjoy as Americans go hand in hand with this...ask slaves and Indians. we get to 2013 and get all noble

For all of you wondering about the battlefield restriction, keep in mind that congress the use of force against Al Qaida wherever it operates. The legislation had no geographic distinction in it. This means that the "battlefield" in effect is anywhere and everywhere that Al Qaida, it's affiliates, or supporters happen to be. If you want to complain, complain about the congress that passed the resolution granting the authority to the president, don't complain about the president using that authority as directed by congress.

Has anyone seen Rep Jim Sensenbrenner since he apologized for saying Michelle Obama has A "large posterior." No one knows where he is including his lawyer.
Maybe we should check Guantanamo.

February 6, 2013 at 3:00 am |

sweetster

Michelle's bottom should never have come into play in any context, however, she is married to a stupid butt, who refuses to wishes to share the American dream which was sacrificed for and fought for, with 11 million people who have broken the laws. Great way to assure votes for the democratic party in the future. Ladies and gentlemen, I introduce to you, me amigo, El Presidente, Senor Obama. (sound of illegal Mexican applause in background)

February 6, 2013 at 9:00 pm |

Get a life

And? Going after these turncoats and traitors should not be an issue. And no, there is no need for one of your "trials".

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CNN's Security Clearance examines national and global security, terrorism and intelligence, as well as the economic, military, political and diplomatic effects of it around the globe, with contributions from CNN's national security team in Washington and CNN journalists around the world.